Josef Hofmeister

Josef Hofmeister nicknamed Wack Hofmeister (born 17 June 1934) is a former motorcycle rider from Germany, who competed in Grasstrack, Longtrack and motorcycle speedway. He competed in six World Longtrack Championship Finals and won a hat-trick of titles between 1958 and 1960. Josef was also a World Speedway finalist on four occasion.

Career
Hofmeister started his career in 1949 in the youth class and retired 1963 at just 29 years of age. In the 1950s and early 1960s, he was the first German star of international motorcycle racing.

He was a three time winner of the Individual Speedway Long Track World Championship or European Championship as it was called, when he won it in 1958, 1959 and 1960.

He only ever had one match in British speedway for the Southampton Saints, during the 1957 Speedway National League season.

In 1958, he reached the final of the 1958 Individual Speedway World Championship.

In 2022, he received the honour of having the Altes Stadion Abensberg renamed after him. It would be known as the Wack Hofmeister Stadium.

Retirement
After retiring Josef Hofmeister ran a sports shop in Kempten, Allgäu.

Individual World Championship

 * 1957 - 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 London, Wembley Stadium - 16th - 0pts
 * 1958 - 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 London, Wembley Stadium - 15th - 2pts
 * 1959 - 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 London, Wembley Stadium - 13th - 4pts
 * 1960 - 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 London, Wembley Stadium - 8th - 6pts

European Championship

 * 1957 🇸🇪 Stockholm (Second) 14pts
 * 1958 Mühldorf (Champion) 21pts
 * 1959 🇫🇮 Helsinki (Champion) 19pts
 * 1960 Plattling (Champion) 24pts
 * 1961 Semi-final
 * 1962 Mühldorf (13th) 8pts
 * 1963 🇸🇪 Malmö (12th) 7pts